Thoughts on eCommerce, AI and Leadership | Centre Channel https://centrechannel.com/thoughts A working library of the commercial patterns that repeat across high-growth consumer brands. Written and filmed, curated slowly. en-gb Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Your AI pilot didn't fail. Your brief did. https://centrechannel.com/insights/why-ai-pilots-fail https://centrechannel.com/insights/why-ai-pilots-fail Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Most AI pilots don't produce bad output. They produce generic output. That is not a technology problem, and buying better technology won't fix it. Nobody knows what to spend on eCommerce. That's the problem. https://centrechannel.com/insights/what-to-spend-on-ecommerce https://centrechannel.com/insights/what-to-spend-on-ecommerce Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Ask five advisers what an eCommerce operation should cost and you'll get five confident answers to five different questions. Turn it off for a fortnight https://centrechannel.com/insights/turn-it-off-for-a-fortnight https://centrechannel.com/insights/turn-it-off-for-a-fortnight Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Half of an eCommerce roadmap is optimising things nobody has ever tested for necessity. Subtraction is the cheapest experiment there is. The phone number that wasn't https://centrechannel.com/insights/the-phone-number-that-wasnt https://centrechannel.com/insights/the-phone-number-that-wasnt Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Customers kept asking for one thing. The answer was something else. What feature requests actually tell you. The expensive silence between strategy and execution https://centrechannel.com/insights/strategy-execution-gap https://centrechannel.com/insights/strategy-execution-gap Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT The plan is agreed. The work is underway. The costly part is the conversation that never happens between the two. What happens when everyone's tech stack looks the same? https://centrechannel.com/insights/same-tech-stack https://centrechannel.com/insights/same-tech-stack Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT When the stack stops differentiating, the difference has to come from somewhere else. The D2C playbook worked. Copying it doesn't. https://centrechannel.com/insights/d2c-trap https://centrechannel.com/insights/d2c-trap Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Direct-to-consumer looked like a business model. For a while it was mostly a set of conditions, and the conditions have gone. The board wants an AI update. That's the wrong request. https://centrechannel.com/insights/board-ai-update https://centrechannel.com/insights/board-ai-update Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT 'What are we doing about AI?' produces a list of activity. The better question produces a decision. When an agent does the shopping, what makes it choose you? https://centrechannel.com/insights/agentic-commerce-brands https://centrechannel.com/insights/agentic-commerce-brands Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Agentic commerce is arriving faster than most boards think. The brands that get chosen won't be the loudest. They'll be the clearest. Your agency doesn't work for you. They work for your brief. https://centrechannel.com/insights/your-agency-doesnt-work-for-you https://centrechannel.com/insights/your-agency-doesnt-work-for-you Fri, 06 Mar 2026 09:00:00 GMT The quality of agency output is capped by the quality of your brief. Most brands don't have anyone whose job it is to ask whether the brief is still the right one. Why wholesale brands struggle going direct https://centrechannel.com/insights/wholesale-direct-to-consumer https://centrechannel.com/insights/wholesale-direct-to-consumer Thu, 19 Feb 2026 09:00:00 GMT Most wholesale brands going direct take the same product, the same presentation, and put it on a Shopify store. Same ingredients. No translation. Why discovery phases fail scale-ups https://centrechannel.com/insights/discovery-phases-fail-scale-ups https://centrechannel.com/insights/discovery-phases-fail-scale-ups Tue, 16 Dec 2025 09:00:00 GMT Scale-ups often pay six figures for discovery phases that tell them what they already know. This is the Learning Tax. Why your portfolio brand's digital operation is stuck https://centrechannel.com/insights/portfolio-brand-digital-risk https://centrechannel.com/insights/portfolio-brand-digital-risk Thu, 11 Dec 2025 09:00:00 GMT Growth stalled post-acquisition? It's usually infrastructure, not strategy. The three hidden risks in PE portfolio brands. Why replatforming projects drift, and how governance fixes it https://centrechannel.com/insights/replatforming-governance https://centrechannel.com/insights/replatforming-governance Wed, 10 Dec 2025 09:00:00 GMT Replatforming projects don't fail because of bad technology. They fail because nobody says no to scope creep. Why your £50k a month agency retainer feels like it's doing nothing https://centrechannel.com/insights/agency-retainer-audit https://centrechannel.com/insights/agency-retainer-audit Mon, 08 Dec 2025 09:00:00 GMT Most agencies aren't dishonest. But they are human. How to audit the relationship and know whether to stay, renegotiate or leave.